The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

THE GOOD: Matt Joyce. To throw a hissy fit about Joyce not being among the top 3 vote getters among outfielders in the AL seems a bit much. Especially when you admit you never watch the game. And when your own manager doesn’t think you are good enough to start against Zach Britton because he is a rookie left-hander, then why should voters think Joyce is worthy of starting for the AL All-Star team? Let’s face it, if Joyce was voted to start the All-Star game and Maddon happened to be the manager and the NL was starting a lefty, Maddon would probably bench Joyce. But he does lead the AL in hitting (thanks to limited action versus lefties) and after hitting his 10th home run last night, he does deserve a spot on the All-Star bench.

THE BAD: Home Run Derby. The Mariners came into the game with just 29 home runs. That was the lowest total in the AL, 26 fewer than the Rays. 26! And yet, when the HR bug strikes James Shields, it really stings. In 4 innings, he gave up 8 runs (7 earned), on 7 hits including 4 home runs. Game. Over.

THE TELLING: Jeff Niemann will make his first of 3 scheduled rehab starts tonight for single-A Charlotte…Four members of the Charlotte Stone Crabs were named FSL All-Stars, including SS Hak-Ju Lee, 3B Greg Sexton, OF Brett Nommensen, and reliever Josh Satow.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Jeremy Hellickson was named the AL Pitcher and Rookie of the Month after going 4-1 with a 1.36 ERA in May. [The Heater]

Having grown up in the “grunge” era, the Rays looked more like Lumberjacks. And yes, Johnny Damon is sleeveless…again. [The Heater]

The Rays fell all the way to no. 14 in this week’s Power Rankings at SI.com. [SI.com]

Columbus 2, DURHAM 1 (10): Interestingly, Ryan Reid who at one point was considered a decent strikeout-heavy relief prospect, made his first start since 2006. And it wasn’t just a spot-start. He worked 5 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and no walks. He struck out 3…Rob Delaneystruggled in 1.2 innings of relief, walking 4, including a bases loaded walk in the 10th…RF Desmond Jennings was 1-3 with a walk and his 10th steal…CF Brandon Guyer went 2-5 with his 8th stolen base…C Robinson Chirinos was 0-4.

Jackson 5, MONTGOMERY 3: Joe Cruz lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks…SS Tim Beckham was 1-3 with an RBI. He also stole his 4th base…DH Henry Wrigley hi his 3rd home run.

CHARLOTTE 10, Daytona 1: Alex Koronis tossed 6 shutout innings, striking out 6 and walking 2…SS Hak-Ju Lee was 0-3 with 2 walks. He is now 1-20 in the last 5 games…2B Tyler Bortnick went 2-3 with 3 runs.

Wisconsin 6, BOWLING GREEN 3: Victor Mateo gave up 5 runs in 5.1 innings, striking out 5 and walking 2…Nick Scwaner hit his 5th and 6th home runs of the season, driving in 2 of the Hot Rods’ 3 runs…SS Derek Dietrichwent 0-4 with 3 Ks.

9 Comments

Matt Joyce has now compiled about a season's worth of games & plate appearances with the Rays since the trade (141 G, 492 PA) and for all the crap he got early on from people who thought Edwin Jackson was the second coming of Bob Gibson, he's been a well above average hitter over that span: .924 OPS, 157 OPS+, 23 HR and less than 100 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Edwin had his no-hitter and has otherwise been thoroughly average: 4.12 ERA, 106 ERA+, etc. He's basically Wade Davis with more innings.

I said from the start that I thought the Rays won that trade and I still think I'm right. Again, small sample size, but Joyce's numbers against lefties are up across the board from earlier this season. Interestingly, he's 3 for 4 against lefty relievers this season, the guys you'd think would be brought in specifically to get him out.

I don't think the Rays won that trade... I think it was a good case of win-win. We got Joyce and we feel pretty good about that. No argument there...

But the Tigers didn't lose... they got a good year from Edwin Jackson (214 IP, 161 K, 3.62 ERA, no hitter) and then packaged him with Granderson to get Austin Jackson & Max Scherzer (plus a 2 others). They did alright.

Good point on Granderson+Joyce, but they were trying to cut payroll at the time. I think they would have unloaded Granderson anyway & Edwin Jackson had to have been a key piece of that trade. From Baseball America's review of the trade:

"Looking to pare payroll in tough economic times, the Tigers parted ways with all-star center fielder Curtis Granderson, sending him to the Yankees, and righthander Edwin Jackson, sending him to the Diamondbacks. In exchange, Detroit acquired four young, cost-controlled players in the seven-piece deal with Arizona and New York."

So, because you don't like DRB we get to read your "hissy fit" instead of reading about Matt Joyce. Oh wait, there's something in the last line. No need to talk about how good he has been (like Steve did) I'd rather read "hissy fits" about other guy's "hissy fits."

Luckily for me, the internet is pretty easily navigated, and I have the ability to view several sites.

In my point of view, it was more about how terrible the All Star Game voting is, and also a nice forum for him to highlight the wonderful year Joyce is having. Which is what "The Good" should have been about in this blog, but it was nothing more than an afterthought.

I enjoy this site. Sadly, I only comment when something bothers me, but that's my right.

Why would Joyce be among the top vote getters ....???
because he has had two months in the last 4 years of good hitting....there are fans in NY, BOS, CHI and CAL who don't even know who he is... or care who he is....an All Star NOW?....ask them what they think?